Description Of Sites Research Articles

Long-term assessment of whale shark population demography and connectivity using photo-identification in the Western Atlantic Ocean.

The predictable occurrence of whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, has been well documented in several areas. However, information relating to their migratory patterns, residency times and connectivity across broad spatial scales is limited. In the present study photo-identification data is used to describe whale shark population structure and connectivity among known aggregation sites within the Western Central Atlantic Ocean (WCA). From 1999 to 2015, 1,361 individuals were identified from four distinct areas: the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico (n = 1,115); Honduras (n = 146); northern Gulf of Mexico, United States (n = 112), and Belize (n = 49). Seasonal patterns in whale shark occurrence were evident with encounters occurring in the western Caribbean Sea earlier in the year than in the GOM. There was also a significant sex bias with 2.6 times more males present than females. Seventy sharks were observed in more than one area and the highest degree of connectivity occurred among three aggregation sites along the Mesoamerican Reef. Despite this, the majority of resightings occurred in the area where the respective sharks were first identified. This was true for the WCA as a whole, with the exception of Belize. Site fidelity was highest in Mexico. Maximum likelihood modelling resulted in a population estimate of 2,167 (95% c.i. 1585.21–2909.86) sharks throughout the entire region. This study is the first attempt to provide a broad, regional population estimate using photo-identification data from multiple whale shark aggregations. Our aim is to provide population metrics, along with the description of region-scale connectivity, that will help guide conservation action in the WCA. At a global level, rapidly growing photographic databases are allowing for researchers to look beyond the description of single aggregation sites and into the ocean-scale ecology of this pelagic species.

The structure of RbmB from Streptomyces ribosidificus, an aminotransferase involved in the biosynthesis of ribostamycin.

Aminoglycoside antibiotics represent a classical group of antimicrobials first discovered in the 1940s. Due to their ototoxic and nephrotoxic side effects, they are typically only used against Gram negative bacteria which have become resistant to other therapeutics. One family of aminoglycosides includes such compounds as butirosin, ribostamycin, neomycin, and kanamycin, amongst others. The common theme in these antibiotics is that they are constructed around a chemically stable aminocyclitol unit referred to as 2-deoxystreptamine (2-DOS). Four enzymes are required for the in vivo production of 2-DOS. Here, we report the structure of RbmB from Streptomyces ribosidificus, which is a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate dependent enzyme that catalyzes two of the required steps in 2-DOS formation by functioning on distinct substrates. For this analysis, the structure of the external aldimine form of RbmB with 2-DOS was determined to 2.1 Å resolution. In addition, the structure of a similar enzyme, BtrR from Bacillus circulans, was also determined to 2.1 Å resolution in the same external aldimine form. These two structures represent the first detailed molecular descriptions of the active sites for those aminotransferases involved in 2-DOS production. Given the fact that the 2-DOS unit is widespread amongst aminoglycoside antibiotics, the data presented herein provide new molecular insight into the biosynthesis of these sugar-based drugs.

Structure of active cerium sites within bioactive glasses

AbstractThe inclusion of small amounts of cerium within the matrix of bioactive glasses, a class of materials used for bone tissue reparation and regeneration, adds a very important antioxidant property. In this work we investigate the local structure around cerium ions in cerium oxide doped bioactive phosphosilicate and silicate glasses, by X‐ray absorption fine structure at the Ce K‐edge, combined with classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The local structure of the active Ce sites results significantly different from the one in bulk cerium oxide phases. A contracted Ce–O first shell distance with respect to bulk oxides is detected, in full agreement with the results of MD simulations. The cerium environment in the glass matrix at different stages of the reaction with H2O2 does not show significant modifications, in spite of the very high catalytic activity. The accurate description of the active Ce sites within bioactive glasses reported in this work is an important step toward an atomic scale understanding of the material functionalities.

A Description of Preferential Sites for Vacancy Formation on Grain Boundaries in Copper by Structural Unit Model

The preferential sites for vacancies on a series of symmetric tilt grain boundaries in copper have been investigated by molecular dynamics simulation. The regularity of preferential sites for vacancies on these boundaries can be described by the structural unit model. This is essential because of the correspondence between the geometries of the structural units and the local stress field. The vacancies are energetically preferred at the sites with relatively large tensile stress, and these sites are the corner sites of the structural units. Moreover, these preferential sites are mainly related to the structural unit types irrespective of which grain boundary that the structure units locate in. Therefore, the preferential sites for vacancies on various grain boundaries formed by combinations of certain structural units can be readily described and predicted by the structural unit model.

Experimental Determination of Bed Temperatures during Wood Pellet Combustion

Constant effort to reduce heating costs leads to production of not only high-quality pellets from pure wood but also cheaper vegetable pellets of inferior quality in terms of energy properties.1,2 The combustion of alternative pellets in small boilers causes many problems, mainly ash sintering, as a result of their low melting temperature.3,4 The paper focuses on experimental determination of bed temperatures in the burning layer during wood pellet combustion. The bed temperatures are important for prediction of combustion phases and better localization and description of sites that are critical for the sintering of ash particles as temperatures are close to the ash melting points. This experiment describes a method for measurement of the temperature field in the symmetry plane of the burner during wood pellet combustion in the retort burner. The measurement of temperature profiles at different locations in the burner shows that the combustion process in the retort burner is rather more horizontally strat...

Abstract P6-09-13: The association between pCR status after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and sites of first distant relapse after surgery: A substudy of the EORTC 10094/BIG-1-00 trial

Abstract Background Chemotherapy in eligible patients is increasingly applied in the neoadjuvant setting, as it offers the possibility for 'in vivo' monitoring of the activity to the administered treatment, prevention of early micrometastatic spread and often allows less invasive surgery in patients that would otherwise have needed a mastectomy. The achievement of a pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a prognosticator for better outcome. However, less is known about the patterns of distant relapse between patients that did and did not achieve pCR. We assessed the differences in sites of first distant relapse after pCR versus non-pCR after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients enrolled in the EORTC 10094/BIG-1-00 “p53” trial. Methods The analyzed population consisted of patients enrolled in the “p53” trial that received ≥1 cycle of chemotherapy before surgery and who have been diagnosed with a distant relapse. pCR was defined as no evidence of residual invasive cancer (or very few scattered tumor cells) in the primary tumor and axillary lymph nodes with or without residual ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Intrinsic subtype classification was performed using the 2011 St Gallen consensus. The first site of distant relapse was collected for all patients and was classified as soft tissue, visceral, skeletal or CNS. As primary analysis, the associations between achievement of pCR and sites of distant relapse were investigated in 4 multivariate logistic regression models, one for each site, adjusting for intrinsic subtype and preceding local recurrence (yes/no). Adjusted P-values are reported (Benjamini-Hochberg correction). Secondary analyses include: associations between site of first distant relapse and pCR by subtype, description of concomitant sites of relapse. Results The study included 383 (21%) eligible patients out of the 1856 randomized for the 'p53' trial, of whom 28 (7%) had achieved pCR and 355 (93%) did not. Median follow-up was 5.4 years. Achievement of pCR was associated with a trend towards a decreased presentation with skeletal metastases (21% (pCR) vs 50% (non-pCR), OR=0.32, adj-p=0.071, see Table) and we observed an increase in the proportion of patients with CNS tissue as first site of distant relapse (21% vs 9%, OR=2.39, adj-p=0.183). The trend for skeletal metastases was seen in all subtypes except for Luminal A. Patients with pCR were more likely to present with only one relapse location category when compared to non-pCR (86% vs 69%). Association between site of first distant relapse and pCRSite of first distant relapseNon-pCR N=355pCR N=28Total N=383Median of time from surgery till first distant relapsepCR: Yes vs NoCategoryN(%)N(%)N(%)MonthsOR (95% CI)Adj. p-valueSoft tissue43 (12.1)4 (14.3)47 (12.3)250.94 (0.30, 2.95)0.909Visceral183 (51.5)14 (50.0)197 (51.4)220.80 (0.36, 1.74)0.756Skeletal179 (50.4)6 (21.4)185 (48.3)280.32 (0.12, 0.82)0.071CNS32 (9.0)6 (21.4)38 (9.9)162.39 (0.87, 6.58)0.183 Conclusion In this group of patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, patients that achieved a pCR were less likely to present with skeletal metastases as first site of distant relapse, even after adjustment for intrinsic subtype. Citation Format: Touati N, Aalders K, Slaets L, Tryfonidis K, Cameron DA, Bonnefoi H. The association between pCR status after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and sites of first distant relapse after surgery: A substudy of the EORTC 10094/BIG-1-00 trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-09-13.

Enhancing Interoperability and Capabilities of Earth Science Data using the Observations Data Model 2 (ODM2)

Earth Science researchers require access to integrated, cross-disciplinary data in order to answer critical research questions. Partially due to these science drivers, it is common for disciplinary data systems to expand from their original scope in order to accommodate collaborative research. The result is multiple disparate databases with overlapping but incompatible data. In order to enable more complete data integration and analysis, the Observations Data Model Version 2 (ODM2) was developed to be a general information model, with one of its major goals to integrate data collected by in situ sensors with those by ex-situ analyses of field specimens. Four use cases with different science drivers and disciplines have adopted ODM2 because of benefits to their users. The disciplines behind the four cases are diverse – hydrology, rock geochemistry, soil geochemistry, and biogeochemistry. For each case, we outline the benefits, challenges, and rationale for adopting ODM2. In each case, the decision to implement ODM2 was made to increase interoperability and expand data and metadata capabilities. One of the common benefits was the ability to use the flexible handling and comprehensive description of specimens and data collection sites in ODM2’s sampling feature concept. We also summarize best practices for implementing ODM2 based on the experience of these initial adopters. The descriptions here should help other potential adopters of ODM2 implement their own instances or to modify ODM2 to suit their needs.

Environment and Society in the Japanese Islands: From Prehistory to the Present ed. by Bruce L. Batten and Philip C. Brown

Reviewed by: Environment and Society in the Japanese Islands: From Prehistory to the Present ed. by Bruce L. Batten and Philip C. Brown Kerry Smith (bio) Environment and Society in the Japanese Islands: From Prehistory to the Present. Edited by Bruce L. Batten and Philip C. Brown. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, 2015. xvi, 291 pages. $29.95, paper. It might be helpful to think about this book in the context of the two conferences that produced it. The editors of Environment and Society in the Japanese Islands trace its origins to the conference on “Japan’s Natural Legacies: Bodies and Landscapes Realized, Idealized, and Poisoned,” convened in 2008 near Big Sky, Montana. Both editors participated in that conference—Brown was among the contributors to the volume that it produced, Japan at Nature’s Edge—but were talking even then about how to make some of the ways of doing Japanese environmental history that were not well represented during discussions in Montana, or elsewhere in the field, visible to a wide audience.1 For Batten and Brown, that meant a book that included work on early Japan and studies exploring changes unfolding over the long span of Japan’s history. They were interested too in bringing together the work of “more traditional historians” with “the skills and perspectives of technically disposed disciplinary specialists” (p. xi). Toward that end, this new volume includes chapters by archeologists, climatologists, and geographers, in addition to contributions by historians. If the 2008 conference provides one framework for contextualizing the [End Page 244] book, the late March 2011 gathering in Hawai’i of almost all of its contributors suggests another. The devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier that same month inevitably shifted expectations about the nature of the work that environmental history about Japan might be asked to perform and about the potential interventions of a book like this. In a concluding chapter appropriately titled “In the Shadow of 3.11,” Batten and Brown acknowledge as much and touch on the perspectives that the chapters in this volume bring to the study of the disaster’s causes and effects. “Resilience” is one of the concepts the book uses as a foil for exploring “the processes of historical, socionatural change,” including those associated with the sudden, catastrophic kind (p. 13). Developed by ecologists to explain how some ecosystems are able “to remain more or less stable in the face of drastic external perturbations” while others undergo dramatic and permanent change when subject to comparatively minor disruptions, resilience refers to “the capacity of a system to withstand or adapt to shocks without experiencing a fundamental regime shift” (p. 13). The editors are not arguing that resilience or the concept of adaptive cycles, another analytical framework developed by ecologists and also referenced here, map completely onto questions that interest environmental historians the most. What they do suggest is that some of these ideas might be helpful for understanding the interactions and feedback cycles operating within socionatural systems, in a range of spatial arrangements, and over time scales short and long. Most chapters make use of one or more of these frameworks, some more uncritically than others. Gina Barnes’s observation in “Vulnerable Japan,” the first of three chapters on geology and topography, that “[e]nvironmentally, the Japanese Islands are a dangerous place to live” reflects both the country’s recent history and what we understand from the evidence emerging out of archaeoseismology and volcanic ash archaeology (kazanbai kōkogaku) (p. 22). The work that scholars in this latter, relatively new field have been doing has not been all that visible to nonspecialists, and one of Barnes’s contributions here is to help draw our attention to it. What these recent studies tell us is in some ways familiar, in that uncovering artifacts and other markers of human habitation from under tephra falls is not so different from other forms of archaeological practice. The cumulative effect of Barnes’s description of multiple excavation sites and of the region-wide impact of events such as the calamitous Kikai eruption of ca. 5300 BCE, which deposited up to 20 centimeters of ash over much of Kyushu, Shikoku, and parts of Honshu, however, is...

As gravuras rupestres do Monte Faro (Valença, Viana do Castelo) : um exemplo maior das Arte Atlântica peninsular

On the northern fringes of Serra do Extremo, overlooking the valley of the river Minho, the hills of Monte Faro and Monte dos Fortes revealed an exceptional collection of prehistoric rock carvings belonging to the Iberian Atlantic Art tradition. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, A. Leite da Cunha e E. J. Silva studied here the well-known sites of Monte da Laje, Tapada do Ozao e Monte dos Fortes. Between 2013 and 2015, a new research project amplified he numbers to over one hundred carved rocks, amongst which 91 are dated to Late Prehistory. This allows us to acknowledge that this is the largest assemblage of Atlantic Art identified, so far, in Portugal. This paper, which inaugurates the dissemination of the research outcomes, reveals how the project was structured, the methodology adopted and offers a preliminary description of the archaeological sites.

Manganese-containing hollow TS-1: Description of the catalytic sites and surface properties for solvent-free oxidation of ethylbenzene

Hollow MnOx/TS-1 catalyst was prepared by dissolution-recrystallization and impregnation method, and its catalytic activity was evaluated in aerobic oxidation of ethylbenzene under solvent-free conditions. Tetrahedral Ti4+ and MnOx species homogeneous dispersed on the hollow TS-1 surface and strong favourable synergic interactions between them occurred, which supported by the comprehensive analysis of XRD, N2 physical adsorption, TEM, FTIR, UV–vis, XPS and Raman spectroscopy. The virtue of such synergic effect was reflected in a catalytic efficiency enhancement of valuable ketone and alcohol products (TOF=137h−1): MnOx/TS-1 catalyst showed about 2.2 times higher activity compared to MnOx/Silicalite-1 references. Furthermore, the Mn species content and calcination temperature of the MnOx/TS-1 catalyst presented significant effects of lower-nuclearity Mn species on the structural, chemical, and catalytic properties. Based on the theoretical calculations, the reaction mechanism was proposed where the cleavage of the longer methylene CH bond (1.0935Å) of ethylbenzene and OO bond (1.5267Å) of alkyl hydroperoxide over the OTiOMn sites is a key step to yield radical continuously for recycle.

Formation of swift heavy ion tracks on a rutile TiO2 (001) surface.

Nanostructuring of surfaces and two-dimensional materials using swift heavy ions offers some unique possibilities owing to the deposition of a large amount of energy localized within a nanoscale volume surrounding the ion trajectory. To fully exploit this feature, the morphology of nanostructures formed after ion impact has to be known in detail. In the present work the response of a rutile TiO2 (001) surface to grazing-incidence swift heavy ion irradiation is investigated. Surface ion tracks with the well known intermittent inner structure were successfully produced using 23 MeV I ions. Samples irradiated with different ion fluences were investigated using atomic force microscopy and grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering. With these two complementary approaches, a detailed description of the swift heavy ion impact sites, i.e. the ion tracks on the surface, can be obtained even for the case of multiple ion track overlap. In addition to the structural investigation of surface ion tracks, the change in stoichiometry of the rutile TiO2 (001) surface during swift heavy ion irradiation was monitored using in situ time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis, and a preferential loss of oxygen was found.

Periodic vs. molecular cluster approaches to resolving glass structure and properties: Anorthite a case study

Periodic and molecular cluster models are presented for anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8), a cement forming glass with desirable thermal and mechanical properties also tested in dental applications. Both the crystalline and amorphous structures were characterised by ab initio molecular dynamics and found to be in good agreement with experiment. Additional investigations of the elongation and fracture of the glass were also made. The recovery of material properties signaled the failure of the periodic method to generate acceptable fracture surfaces to model cement forming-sites. Isolated molecular cluster models of anorthite were therefore investigated with electronic structure methods and showed sound structural matches with the traditional periodic structures. The equilibrated glass clusters were used to develop cement models, through binding of short acid oligomers to selected Al-centres, simulating the glass-polymer interface. Overall, the anorthite glass structures emerging from periodic and cluster models were in close agreement. Results suggest that bare molecular cluster models represent an alternative avenue for accurately investigating amorphous systems, providing more realistic descriptions of edge and corner sites, as well as interfaces.

Trace-element and stable-isotope composition of theCyprideis torosa(Crustacea, Ostracoda) shell

Shells of Cyprideis , a widespread euryhaline ostracod, have commonly been used in geochemical investigations involving determinations of trace elements (especially magnesium and strontium) and isotopes (of oxygen, carbon and strontium). In this paper, we evaluate geochemical signatures in Cyprideis based on new and previously published data. Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca determinations of fossil shells that calcified in marine-type water have potential to reconstruct palaeotemperature and past water composition using empirical relationships derived from living ostracods recovered from in vitro cultures or natural settings. For shells that calcified in non-marine waters of contrasting composition, partitioning of trace metals from water into ostracod shells may differ, meaning that relationships developed for marine waters do not apply. However, variations in Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca in Cyprideis in continental settings may still provide valuable palaeohydrological information. Determinations of oxygen isotopes in Cyprideis shells are consistent with positive offsets from equilibrium, in common with other ostracod taxa: carbon-isotope values reflect the fact that Cyprideis is a detritivore. Oxygen-isotope analyses of Cyprideis shells from continental settings provide important palaeohydrological information. Strontium-isotope analyses of Cyprideis shells provide valuable records of mixing of marine and continental water in marginal-marine settings. Geochemical analyses of different morphotypes of Cyprideis lend support to suggestions that ecophenotypic variations are controlled by factors other than, or additional to, salinity. Supplementary material: descriptions of sites, materials and methods for previously unpublished studies are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3248710.v1

Metal ion binding to an RNA internal loop

Studying the interaction of metal ions with RNA is challenging because of the fast dynamics of the system and the intricate interplay between structural and functional roles of metal ions. NMR spectroscopy is an exceptional tool to investigate such interactions in solution and allows for a detailed description of both metal ion binding sites and binding modes in complex and dynamic RNA structures. We recently applied heteronuclear NMR to study the metal ion binding properties of a three-way junction RNA (D1κζ) which plays an important role in group II intron splicing, and observed metal ion binding in both κ and ζ regions of the construct. Here we concentrate in more detail on the ζ region (D1ζ) using NMR to investigate the interaction with Mg(II), Cd(II) and cobalt(III)hexammine. Our data confirm Cd(II) induced macrochelate formation at the 5′-end triphosphate, suggest an overall similar behaviour for the two divalent metal ions, but with much clearer changes in chemical shifts upon Cd(II) addition, and reveal only little changes upon cobalt(III)hexammine addition, allowing to discriminate between inner- and outer-sphere binding. Moreover, we observed distinct differences when we titrated the sample with Cd(II) in the presence of either KCl or KClO4 as background monovalent salt.

Structural Basis of Stereospecificity in the Bacterial Enzymatic Cleavage of β-Aryl Ether Bonds in Lignin

Lignin is a combinatorial polymer comprising monoaromatic units that are linked via covalent bonds. Although lignin is a potential source of valuable aromatic chemicals, its recalcitrance to chemical or biological digestion presents major obstacles to both the production of second-generation biofuels and the generation of valuable coproducts from lignin's monoaromatic units. Degradation of lignin has been relatively well characterized in fungi, but it is less well understood in bacteria. A catabolic pathway for the enzymatic breakdown of aromatic oligomers linked via β-aryl ether bonds typically found in lignin has been reported in the bacterium Sphingobium sp. SYK-6. Here, we present x-ray crystal structures and biochemical characterization of the glutathione-dependent β-etherases, LigE and LigF, from this pathway. The crystal structures show that both enzymes belong to the canonical two-domain fold and glutathione binding site architecture of the glutathione S-transferase family. Mutagenesis of the conserved active site serine in both LigE and LigF shows that, whereas the enzymatic activity is reduced, this amino acid side chain is not absolutely essential for catalysis. The results include descriptions of cofactor binding sites, substrate binding sites, and catalytic mechanisms. Because β-aryl ether bonds account for 50–70% of all interunit linkages in lignin, understanding the mechanism of enzymatic β-aryl ether cleavage has significant potential for informing ongoing studies on the valorization of lignin.

Analysis of isothermal and cooling-rate-dependent immersion freezing by a unifying stochastic ice nucleation model

Abstract. Immersion freezing is an important ice nucleation pathway involved in the formation of cirrus and mixed-phase clouds. Laboratory immersion freezing experiments are necessary to determine the range in temperature, T, and relative humidity, RH, at which ice nucleation occurs and to quantify the associated nucleation kinetics. Typically, isothermal (applying a constant temperature) and cooling-rate-dependent immersion freezing experiments are conducted. In these experiments it is usually assumed that the droplets containing ice nucleating particles (INPs) all have the same INP surface area (ISA); however, the validity of this assumption or the impact it may have on analysis and interpretation of the experimental data is rarely questioned. Descriptions of ice active sites and variability of contact angles have been successfully formulated to describe ice nucleation experimental data in previous research; however, we consider the ability of a stochastic freezing model founded on classical nucleation theory to reproduce previous results and to explain experimental uncertainties and data scatter. A stochastic immersion freezing model based on first principles of statistics is presented, which accounts for variable ISA per droplet and uses parameters including the total number of droplets, Ntot, and the heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient, Jhet(T). This model is applied to address if (i) a time and ISA-dependent stochastic immersion freezing process can explain laboratory immersion freezing data for different experimental methods and (ii) the assumption that all droplets contain identical ISA is a valid conjecture with subsequent consequences for analysis and interpretation of immersion freezing. The simple stochastic model can reproduce the observed time and surface area dependence in immersion freezing experiments for a variety of methods such as: droplets on a cold-stage exposed to air or surrounded by an oil matrix, wind and acoustically levitated droplets, droplets in a continuous-flow diffusion chamber (CFDC), the Leipzig aerosol cloud interaction simulator (LACIS), and the aerosol interaction and dynamics in the atmosphere (AIDA) cloud chamber. Observed time-dependent isothermal frozen fractions exhibiting non-exponential behavior can be readily explained by this model considering varying ISA. An apparent cooling-rate dependence of Jhet is explained by assuming identical ISA in each droplet. When accounting for ISA variability, the cooling-rate dependence of ice nucleation kinetics vanishes as expected from classical nucleation theory. The model simulations allow for a quantitative experimental uncertainty analysis for parameters Ntot, T, RH, and the ISA variability. The implications of our results for experimental analysis and interpretation of the immersion freezing process are discussed.

Wasteland: A History by Vittoria Di Palma (review)

Reviewed by: Wasteland: A History by Vittoria Di Palma Izabel Gass Vittoria Di Palma, Wasteland: A History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014). Pp. 280. $45.00. From present-day descriptions of nuclear disposal sites to T. S. Eliot’s paragon of Modernist verse, the term “wasteland” evokes real and imagined scenes of devastation wholly resonant with the modern age. This enduring cultural trope is a product of the Enlightenment era, when physical landscapes were first categorized as “waste” and their “improvement” proposed. Vittoria Di Palma’s book charts the history of the concept of “wasteland” as it was developed in seventeenth- through eighteenth-century England, Scotland, and Wales. Wasteland: A History is a major achievement: meticulously researched, theoretically nuanced, and written in lucid, sensitive prose. The book’s first two chapters set forth a general history of wasteland, focusing on its seventeenth-century genesis, while the three following chapters provide case studies of specific wasteland typologies in the long eighteenth century. Throughout the book, Di Palma locates wasteland at the intersection of two discourses: theories of land use and the aesthetics of disgust. The seventeenth century witnessed an increasing tendency to value land according to its agricultural utility, an outlook symptomatic of the burgeoning enclosure movement and Enlightenment thought espoused by Francis Bacon and John Locke. This led to the designation of land as “waste” if it was unused, unusable, or “incorrectly” used (for proponents of enclosure, this last category included unenclosed or common land). Yet agricultural reform is only one piece of wasteland’s history. Equally crucial to its definition was the period sense of disgust, the idea that certain terrains were inherently repulsive to the senses: noxious, misshapen, or putrid, for example. Building on the work of several authors who have analyzed disgust—including, to name but a few, Mary Douglas, Aurel Kolnai, and Winfried Menninghaus—Di Palma reveals disgust to be a social and moral concept as much as an aesthetic one. The dovetailing of these two discourses is deftly portrayed in each of Di Palma’s case studies, in which specific landscapes are identified as both useless and disgusting. This nuanced framing of wasteland’s definition accounts for one of the book’s major strengths: it offers a fully interdisciplinary account of its subject that unites political, scientific, and economic history with the history of aesthetics, art, architecture, and landscape design. [End Page 311] The first chapter traces the early modern sense of the term “wasteland” to the 1611 King James Bible, where it signified land made barren through an act of God’s wrath. Redemption could be found through the cultivation of this wasteland, thus establishing an enduring set of cultural associations “between wasteland and the moral cycle of condemnation, devastation, atonement, and redemption” (19). Mythic wasteland would come to find real-world correlatives beginning in the later seventeenth century: for example, in John Bunyan’s influential The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678). Bunyan’s protagonist, the pilgrim Christian, journeys through an ominous landscape, navigating such biblical wastelands as “The Valley of the Shadow of Death,” and other terrains demanding physical and moral fortitude, including “The Slough of Despond” and “The Hill of Difficulty.” Yet Christian’s allegorical journey was in fact modeled on the actual route from Bedford south to London, containing many allusions to familiar territory. The Pilgrim’s Progress thus helped to popularize the notion that wasteland existed within England’s own physical landscape. Defining and “improving” such real-world wastelands became a preoccupying cultural imperative. The notion of attaining salvation through the cultivation of land would become bound up with worldly demands for material productivity. John Locke’s defense of private property in his Two Treatises of Government (1690) offers a representative case of the confounding of religious ideas with economic interests in agricultural production—including the call for land enclosure—common to discussions of wasteland. For Locke, unenclosed (common) land left in its natural state constituted “waste,” as did improperly cultivated enclosed land. Only through proper agricultural labor could a landowner acquire both wealth and spiritual salvation. According to Di Palma, Locke’s understanding of land in its natural state as “waste,” and agricultural labor as the divinely sanctioned...

Improving archaeological prospection using localized UAVs assisted photogrammetry: An example from the Roman Gold District of the Eria River Valley (NW Spain)

This paper reports the use of integrated geomatic applications based on LiDAR data and UAV assisted photogrammetry for the identification, description and interpretation of ancient Roman gold mining sites in Northwest Spain. The study compares Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) with different acquisition methods, resolution and accuracy for analysis of archaeological remains. DEMs have been analysed using different visualization tools, such as principal component analysis, local relief factor, multiple hillshading, sky-view-factor and openness in order to improve visualization of the models, aiming at the identification of archaeological features. Our study suggests that principal component analysis, openness and multiple hillshading were the most effective tools for identification of archaeological remains. The results indicate that 5m LiDAR provides insufficient resolution to perform detailed analysis and accurate description of the hydraulic systems, but the use of visualization tools improved the localization and description of remains. The 1m resolution LiDAR data highly improve the resolution and capabilities for recognition and interpretation of canals, water reservoirs and mining zones. In addition, the use of UAV technology for smaller detailed surveys has shown a powerful capacity to reduce costs and time-consuming processing calculations, gaining in data resolution. The implementation of .LAZ files allows classification and analysis of point clouds yielding similar results to LiDAR technology in vegetated areas. However, unlike airborne lasers, its application is mainly restricted to small survey areas. Our study has focused on two areas characterized by a diversity of roman gold mining elements preserved in the landscape, such as hydraulic systems (canals and water reservoirs, drained canals and other anthropic elements) and mining areas along the Eria River Valley Gold District. The work has been implemented with the creation of 3D virtual reconstructions of the selected features, which can help to visualize different elements of the archaeological record to the general public, providing a useful tool for preservation and display of cultural heritage.

Prison Public Memory in the Era of Mass Incarceration

Prison Public Memory in the Era of Mass Incarceration Liz Ševčenko (bio) Death Tourism: Disaster Sites as Recreational Landscape. Edited by Brigitte Sion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014. 356 pages. $35.00 (paper). Escape to Prison: Penal Tourism and the Pull of Punishment. By Michael Welch. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015. 304 pages. $70.00 (cloth). $34.95 (paper). “It is estimated that one in ten Australians has a convict ancestor,” reads a panel at the Hyde Park Barracks Museum in Sydney reassuringly. The government-run museum encourages visitors to embrace incarceration as part of a shared national heritage, suggesting, “Ask someone in your family if you have a convict ancestor.”1 In the United States, as many as one in three people have been arrested; that means tens of millions have friends or family members who have.2 And if you count ancestors? Americans laugh at one in ten. While the carceral state is deeply divided by race, at this point, almost no one lives outside it. Yet imagine the American analogue to Australia’s Historic Houses Trust, the US National Park Service, posing that question at Alcatraz. Where prison museums in other parts of the world are opening to critique penal systems and humanize those affected by them, Mary Rachel Gould argues that “the prison-turned-tourist attraction makes a contribution to the silent acceptance of mass incarceration in the U.S.” (Sion 268). In her excellent essay on Alcatraz in Brigitte Sion’s Death Tourism: Disaster Sites as Recreational Landscape, Gould notes that the island prison was opened as a museum in 1972, the dawn of the era of mass incarceration. This coincidence supports Michelle Brown’s argument that “dead prisons reconfigure living prisons, not in a clear chain of direct institutional transformation but in a larger cultural imaginary.”3 As we teeter on the apex of this era of incarceration, it is time to find the connections between the public memories and public policies that have sustained it. A vast number of “death tourism” sites, defined as visits to [End Page 823] sites of violent death, are former prisons and sites of detention, from Alcatraz to Auschwitz. Sion’s brilliant collection moves beyond the eye rolls and snide commentary that dominate many descriptions of such sites, which often stop with pointing out the many obvious ironies produced when trauma and tourism are combined. Instead, Sion’s authors start by taking these sites seriously—their political economy, the contesting constituencies behind their development, and the varied experiences of their visitors. In this way, the collection powerfully demonstrates that death tourism “is complex and deserves serious and thorough scholarship” (6). Michael Welch’s Escape to Prison: Penal Tourism and the Pull of Punishment brings a criminologist’s focus to prison museums and the roles they play in constructing cultural understandings of crime and punishment. Sion’s scholars, paired with Welch’s criminological perspectives, provide new tools to explore the interplay of public memory and public policy, and imagine alternatives. Literature on the popular creation, representation, and dissemination of history and memory has emerged from wildly dispersed locations, including public history (a largely US concern born from social history movements of the 1960s and 1970s), museum studies (emerging from art history and anthropology), transitional justice (a field of international law concerned with how states confront past crimes as part of transitioning to democracy), hospitality and tourism (concerned with marketing and management), and even some neuroscience (seeking to understand impact by studying visitors’ brain patterns). The works reviewed here further diversify the existing literature’s methodological approaches. The scholars in Sion’s collection are concerned with culture, but from a variety of perspectives: performance studies, drama, visual studies, anthropology, and other fields. Welch, on the other hand, is a criminologist who has written extensively on the causes and consequences of mass incarceration in the United States. Whatever their disparate points of entry, both collections ground themselves in a common concept: dark tourism. Popularized by John Lennon and Malcolm Foley, who are credited with coining the term in 1996, the idea has become a generative framework for a whole generation of travel writing, tourism and cultural studies, an...

Mathematical Simulation of Behavior of Carbon and Oxygen in RH Decarburization

A mathematical model for RH decarburization was developed on the basis of the principle of carbon and oxygen balance. In the simulation, a physical description of the different reaction sites associated with the different mechanisms was considered. Furthermore, the oxygen transfer between top slag and molten steel was also considered. The calculated results of the model were in good agreement with the operation data of the two different plants. The model was applied to analyze the effect of KTB starting time on the RH decarburization rate for ultra-low carbon steel production using slag reforming or LF refining. According to the results, the RH decarburization rate especially the inner site decarburization rate is controlled by the KTB starting time. In actual operation, late KTB starting time should be avoided.